why are pole beans winding down?

[habitat_gardener]

Some of my pole beans have a bean or two that's going to seed, so I can understand why those are losing their leaves and shutting down, mostly. But what about the vines that don't have anything going to seed? All of a sudden, it seems, in the past week or so, production has plummeted on all my beans. I have about a dozen varieties. Is production tied to day length? I may also have been watering less -- maybe every 4 days instead of every other day. iirc, last year I had a lull and then most varieties started producing again.

[dustdevil]

If your temps are in the 90's or hotter day after day, you should be watering every day! I know it's been pretty much drought all summer for CA. Once the leaves and vine start turning yellow, it's all over. Sometimes there is a resurrection when it cools down...at that point a vine might start flowering/making pods again.

[habitat_gardener]

Occasionally we get a heat wave that extreme (90s), but it doesn't last more than 3 days or so, and it always cools down at night. I haven't noticed any heat waves lately, though.

What we have isn't called drought, it's called a Mediterranean (summer-dry) climate.

[joseph]

My garden has had about 1/2 inch of rain since May. We likewise don't call it a drought, it's just our typical summer weather pattern.

[Tormato]

Did you have a hot spell (~90 degree temps) about two weeks ago? Beans take about two weeks to mature, so if the flowers didn't pollinate back then, your lack of production may be showing up now.

I know you're trialing Jeminez. Probably not your problem this year, but...
it can overproduce, and if you let all pods go to seed, it may quickly de-leaf and die.

Gary

[habitat_gardener]

Originally Posted by Tormato

Did you have a hot spell (~90 degree temps) about two weeks ago? Beans take about two weeks to mature, so if the flowers didn't pollinate back then, your lack of production may be showing up now.

I know you're trialing Jeminez. Probably not your problem this year, but...
it can overproduce, and if you let all pods go to seed, it may quickly de-leaf and die

It was 80 or above on only 4 days in August; the biggest heat wave was 83 & 85 on Aug 18-19.

Jeminez is still producing a few more beans than the others.

"Overproduce"? So far it has not produced more than I can eat, but I planted only about 10 seeds.

At one garden, I've been letting Blue Coco go to seed because some pods are at the top of the trellis where I can't reach them, and I was picking an average of 100 beans a day for a while. There are so many beans going to seed that I've had to shore up the trellis every time I've been there. But the plants are greener and more lush than any of my beans at other locations, and Blue Coco is still producing some new beans! I started dehydrating the Blue Coco snap beans when I couldn't keep up, and they're pretty good as crunchy snack food.

[Tormato]

So, it's not the heat slowing them down. How long ago did you plant them?

Gary